I previously mentioned how I had shot a series of portraits on Lucy Vincent Beach. Here they are. It was fun stopping people and asking them to pose. I’ve been going to this beach for as long as I can remember though, so I pretty much already knew everyone!

This boat brings me back to childhood. I stumbled upon it while visiting Governor’s Island the other day with my mother. It is the Islander, the same ferry that shuttled us between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven off the coast of Cape Cod all throughout my childhood. Many memories upon this boat. It was bought by Governor’s Island in 2007 but failed to meet regulations and is now caught up in several legal battles. (Read about the drama here)

Lots and lots of photo happenings these weeks. Need to share about one more-

On the rainy cold Friday of last week, Kara dragged me to hear an artist’s talk at the Klompching Gallery in Dumbo. I was reluctant to go, never having heard of the photographer, Simon Roberts, and it being rainy and me being tired, but it being her birthday, I willingly obliged. Honestly, it was one of the best events I have attended since being in New York. When we walked in, the talk had already begun and there were only about 20 people seated in the small gallery space; it was so intimate, as if we were meeting in his living room and he was showing slides from a recent vacation. He had just started describing how he got started with his project titled We English. Publisher Chris Boot explains, “Simon Roberts traveled throughout England in a motorhome between August 2007 and September 2008, for this portfolio of large-format tableaux photographs of the English at leisure. Photographing ordinary people engaged in a variety of pastimes, Roberts finds beauty in the mundane; the result is an elegiac exploration of identity, attachment to home and land, and the relationship between people and place. This is the most significant contribution to the photography of England in recent years.” Typically, I am a portrait lover and not really one for landscapes, but Simon has changed me. He was incredibly eloquent in talking about his work, delving deeply into the how and why, clearly exposing his thought process and showing that there were no random occurrences, every decision was intentional. There are those photographers that have all the discourse, but fail to provide shattering work, and then there are those photographers that have beautifully stunning work, but fall short when it comes to the discourse. Simon is one of those photographers that seamlessly brings both to the table, and for that, this experience, was truly unforgettable.

Looking from the vantage point of his car seat, and shooting outward through ever changing layered mixtures of condensation, grit, and reflecting glare upon the car’s windshield, Hido masterfully transforms the mundane terrain peripherally sandwiching the myriad of roads typically dotting the outskirts of American cities, into inexplicable poignant images, filled with cinematic gravitas and dream-like sublimity, often “crossing the double lines’ between painting and photography.

Kara, my roommate, and I now have this image from the promo card prominently displayed on our mantle.

From there I moved on to the Yossi Milo gallery to see the work of Simen Johan titled “Until the Kingdom Comes” This was a great exhibit to see in person as the images were truly large scale, each taking up an entire wall.

Simen Johan depicts a natural world hovering between reality, fantasy and nightmare. Merging traditional photographic techniques with digital methods, Johan’s images are crafted over time and may include a synthesis of landscapes from various geographical locations and animals photographed in captivity or in the wild.

Next up was Clamp Art gallery to see the much anticipated first New York solo show of the talented Amy Stein. She describes her work as such:
My photographs serve as modern dioramas of our new natural history. Within these scenes I explore our paradoxical relationship with the “wild” and how our conflicting impulses continue to evolve and alter the behavior of both humans and animals. Within my work I examine the primal issues of comfort and fear, dependence and determination, submission and dominance that play out in the physical and psychological encounters between man and the natural world.

Many of the images I had come across before, but there were still a few unseen gems such as this one

I moved on to do a quick stop at the Lehmann Maupin gallery (www.lehmannmaupin.com) to see new work by Juergen Teller, but was not really impressed. Last night also happened to be Fashion Night Out and all the fashionistas seemed to be at this exhibit. Bjork even made an appearance there!

Last stop was the Aperture Gallery, one of my favorite places in Chelsea. Aperture is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to promoting photography, you should become familiar with it if you haven’t yet. There was a group exhibit featuring the new Dutch landscape.

In keeping with the golden age of Dutch landscape painting four hundred years ago, a new visual statement on the landscape has emerged from the Netherlands. Expressed through the modern mediums of photography and video art, this new imagining of the Dutch landscape is urbanized and altered, depicting the Netherlands as the most artificial country in the world.

I’m honored to have been invited by one of the festival organizers, Jay Colton, to be the New York corespondent for the festival where I have been contributing to the official blog, writing about all the photo happenings in New York.

Melanie Flood Projects is an artists salon specializing in contemporary photography based in the Brooklyn home of Melanie Flood. The gallery brings artists and art lovers together in a space that juxtaposes the aesthetic dialogue of fine art with the haphazard and personal existence of the domestic setting, highlighting contrasts and commonalities in unexpected ways. The aim of Melanie Flood Projects is to create a fresh and informal meeting point for looking at, reflecting on, and talking about art.

I have been to several events here and they never seem to disappoint. The opening tonight was titled “Under the Glass Bell, A dream” with photographs by Grace Kim, but the events are usually about much more than the photographs on the wall. By opening up her home to the art community, Melanie allows for a relaxed environment that is very conducive to meeting people, which believe it or not, is actually hard to find in New York.

Highlight of the evening was meeting Phil Toledano, who after watching this interview of him and then meeting him in person made me fall in love with him a little bit.

Update: Check out the New York Times Brooklyn blog for a recap and a photo by me!

You could barely see two feet ahead of you. Outta the blue, or outta the fog should I say, these three children came into view. This is something new I’m trying; approaching random people and asking them to pose for me. They were a bit hesitant, but I managed to get this one shot which I quite like. (click on image for larger view)

Then I went over to a nearby farm to try and spy on the house where Obama was staying (ya ya I know…), but this is all I could see

I was fortunate to be able to volunteer at a vegetable farm this August on the island of Martha’s Vineyard (click here to read about the farm). Participating in the entire process, from seed to sale, was extremely satisfying. Who knew that I would enjoy weeding so much!

The New England Clam Bake is a traditional method of cooking foods, especially seafood such as lobster, mussels, crabs, steamers, and quahogs. The seafood is often supplemented by sausages, potatoes, onions, carrots, corn on the cob, etc. Clam bakes are usually held on festive occasions along the coast of New England.

i love it when a late night party in the garage turns into an impromptu photo session. being away from the city, i tend to have my camera on me at all times and find myself constantly shooting i’ve discussed this with other people, how its often easier to shoot when you’re away from home. why is that?

Thanks to Craigs List in part, I’m thrilled to say I came out of this weekend with a new friend, neighbor and talented photographer, not to mention man of all trades, Tim Carpenter. This was taken on our drive back to Brooklyn on Sunday.

Manjari Sharma and I (as well as Tim Carpenter) led a parallel weekend getaway in a cozy home on the Connecticut river in Northampton, MA while attending the photo workshop. Mornings were spent walking down dirt roads and stripping in the cornfields while evenings were spent expoloring along the river and dissecting the days happenings with a glass of wine on the deck. Cameras were shared, images were collaborations, models were each other.

In each image there is an over looming sorrow in her expression. Clearly, these were shot at a difficult time in both their lives. It reminded me of some photos I took a few years back, and by photos, I mean photobooth shots, when I was experiencing a similar state of sorrow.

I just returned from a weekend photo workshop in Northampton, MA hosted by robert lyons and jorg colberg. We were extremely fortunate to be in such great company with such a small group- there were only five of us. The workshop focused on personal vision and portraiture, but clealry, went far beyond just that. I’m still trying to process it all and am not really one with words. I’ll leave it to say that it was extremely refreshing and challenging and has made me on a whole rethink my own photography. Below, some images from the workshop.

i would venture to say that larsens is a must-stop fish market for anyone visiting the town of chilmark, ma during the summer. besides picking up the freshest fish and the guaranteed run-in with friends, you get to be treated by these handsome boys, many of whom i’ve known since they were four years of age.

this is a first attempt. i would like to re-shoot them again, in their work get-up, boots and all, but on this day i arrived too late…

There’s something about this diptych that excites me. My father has never been an outdoorsy-nature-loving type. Lately though, every time I see him it seems that he’s embracing something new. This spring he began going to the gym for first time in his life and is definitely a changed man. Who knows, maybe camping will be next!

Here I am, dancing away as usual. I literally can’t stop myself sometimes from jumping in front of the lens. I feel that my self portraits are shifting. I’m not exactly sure the new direction, but I’ve definitely been speeding up the shutter.

Went out to the Newport Beach Film Festival last month for my friend Matt’s premiere of his movie Our Time. Him and three buddies took a road trip across the country stopping in all 50 states interviewing the youth of our generation. Check out the trailer here.

Just watched Tierney Gearon: The Mother Project. Go see it. (You can get it on Netflix) Again, blown away by someone whose work I wasn’t all to familiar with going in. Film follows photographer Tierney Gearon working on a series documenting her schizophrenic and manic depressive mother and in turn deals with mother-daughter issues, Tierney’s own relationship with her children and the balance between family and art. Below, some images from the final project:

She makes me want to shoot film!

And make pictures with my own mother.

Super excited that I’ll be in LA this coming weekend and will be able to see the very last day of her new exhibit entitled “Explosure” at the ACE Gallery.

Don’t you just love it when out of the blue (well, through your google reader) you find out about a photo lecture, have never heard of the photographers, attend, and are simply blown away and are introduced to a whole new world and philosophy on photography? Well that happened last night. South African photographers, Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg presented their work at the Visual Arts Theate and Susan Bright (who wrote Art Photography Now, a must read) was there to follow the talk with a candid discussion. I am extremely fortunate to be living in New York and have free access to events like these. Highly urge you to go to their site and read what they have to say about their work and study each image. I found them to be quite brilliant last night. Images by Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg

The photo blog Lens Culture has just posted a fabulous audio interview here, with photographer Nadav Kander. Kander discusses his intentions behind the hotly debated portfolio he shot at the end of 2008 of Obama’s People for the New York Times magazine. You can view the whole essay here. Some of my favorites below:

I met the Brazilian photographer Gui Mohallem last year in New York during the maddness of the first New York Photo Festival. I was introduced to him through a friend and we immediately clicked. It was the kind of connection that only happens every once in a blue moon where even though you’ve known this person lets say for just a day, you feel like you were meant to know them your whole life. Even rarer, the fact that I’m not talking romance here, (Gui is gay, as you’ll see below), but a pure connection on some deeper human level.

Gui was in town for a solo gallery show in Dumbo that he miraculously arranged while visiting New York on vacation. It featured an on-going series of his called “Rehearsal to Madness” all made using a digital pinhole technique. When I went to Brazil the following month, I was fortunate to be included as part of the series.

We were spinning around and around, hands clasped together and camera strung around his neck, atop a hillside looking over the city of São Paulo, when this shot was taken.

On another note- I was delighted to receive an email from him this week with a link to the cover of UK’s MC Mag featuring none other than Gui himself!

Click here to see the entire gorgeous photo spread shot by Manuel Nogueira.